Santa's Milk Supply

We're already "makin' a list and checking it twice" on the dairy farm as we prepare for the Christmas holiday schedule next week. Santa is one of our special customers and we must make sure that there is plenty of milk!  Ordering feed for the dairy cows is at the top of the list. Our cows are depending on us to make sure they have plenty of good nutritious feed  so they can produce delicious milk. It would be a little more difficult to buy dairy cow feed for 300 cows on Christmas Eve!

Our cows enjoy a special diet designed by our dairy nutritionist. Each cow on our farm eats one hundred pounds of feed everyday which includes a mixture of grain,hay,and silage. Because all of the grain is brought to the farm by large trailer trucks, making sure that we are on the grain truck's delivery schedule is at the top of our holiday to-do list! We hope that our grain will arrive just before Christmas so that the truck driver can be home with his family during the holiday.

Just like other dairy farm families, we're committed to taking good care of our cows and providing high-quality milk everyday for you and your family. By making sure that we have plenty of feed for the cows during the holidays, Santa will have plenty of milk to enjoy with all those cookies!

Never Fail Fudge for the Non-Candy Maker

Last weekend I made Fantasy Fudge, the recipe from the Kraft Marshmallow creme jar.  It was very good, easy to make and dispapeared quickly at the church party. I was feeling  pretty good about my fudge accomplishment as a non-candy maker until the words from farmer-husband taste tester,"it wasn't quite like Mom made." I've heard that remark before and often take it as a challenge!  As I was looking for recipe ideas for a family Christmas party this weekend, I found the Never Fail Fudge recipe in my mother-in-law's recipe box.

Never Fail Fudge
Ingredients:
5 cups sugar
1 can Pet milk
1 stick butter
2 packages chocolate chips
1 jar marshmallow cream
2 pounds or more of pecans or walnuts

Mix sugar,butter and milk; boil together 8 minutes and take from fire. Stir in chocolate chips and marshmallow cream; add nuts. Drop from spoon on waxed paper.

                                                   

                     I'm sharing the recipe just as written--and I'll see if I can make it "just like Mom"! 

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

For the past couple of months we have been increasing our milking herd with new heifers giving birth to their first calf.  There are no vacancies in the calf hutches! I'm thankful for the fact that we have new baby calves to raise that will eventually be our future milk cows.

Christmas Wrapped Hay

It isn't the norm to see a farmer baling hay in December but all things are possible if you have the right kind of grass and the equipment to do the job!  Two years ago we invested in a hay bale wrapper that would allow us to utilize every bit of grass hay that is available on our farm. Typically after a killing frost, hay harvesting is finished in our area.  Fescue grass is the exception and that's what we are happily baling and wrapping. If weather permits and we have no machinery breakdowns--the grass is cut,baled and wrapped in the same day.

Hay stockpiles are extremely low due to spring flooding and summer drought in Northwest Arkansas. Farmers across our area report that hay production tonnage was only half the normal yields and hay feeding began at least two months early because of the limited pasture growth caused by drought conditions. Every bale of hay that we can produce will get us one bale closer to the spring growing season. Hay wrapped just before Christmas is a great gift for any farmer that is feeding beef or dairy cattle this year!

Our beef cows and young dairy cattle love to eat this wrapped hay and we are extremely grateful to increase our winter feed inventory.  In this year of extreme weather conditions, a wrapped hay bale could definitely be on any farmer's Christmas wish list!

Tis the Season for Community Service

Several months ago I was asked to participate in a community service project with the Centerton 4-H Club.  Today was the day for the club's activity.  My job was to provide piano Christmas music at a local assisted living facility while 4-H members provided refreshments  and demonstrated how to make a variety of ornaments for each resident.  As I played a selection of Christmas music, the room was a beehive of activity, joyful singing and happy conversation.

When all the ornaments were made and the last cookies served, a few of the young 4-H members gathered around the piano and asked if they could sing a few songs.  Actually, one member told me they had a "group" that wanted to sing.  We started with "O Little Town of Bethlehem" then jumped to "Jingle Bells" and finished with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."  There's nothing sweeter than young voices singing robustly without any inhibitions!

As I hurried home to feed calves,I realized that this activity that started eight years ago as a community service project when my sons were 4-H members has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. Community service is all about giving to others and teaching us how to give of our time and talents.  I can always listen to Christmas music on the radio or play music at home, but there's nothing like sharing it with others in this special season of giving!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

 We had just enough snow yesterday  to cover the ground and make everything on the dairy sparkly white. After listening to the reports of traffic jams and accidents that were happening because of the slick roads, I'm thankful that I can walk across the yard to my calf feeding job  everyday regardless of the weather conditions!

Do You Buy Antibiotic Free Milk?

For the last couple of years, I have been hosting dairy farm tours for University of Arkansas nutrition students. We have had very interesting conversations about how we produce milk and the fact that milk and dairy products are among the most highly regulated foods in this country. Many students state that they buy a particular brand of milk because it states it contains no antibiotics and they feel it is safer than the other brand.  Is this marketing at its best or worst?

Although we sometimes find it necessary to treat cows with antibiotics when they are ill, the milk from those cows is discarded and does not go into the milk supply. Milk from a treated cow will be tested by our dairy cooperative lab and declared antibiotic free before it can be returned to the supply. It is illegal for any dairy farmer to sell milk that might contain antibiotics and we take the responsibility to produce safe milk seriously. Each load of milk is tested for antibiotic on the farm before it is loaded onto the milk transport truck, before it is unloaded at the processing plant and at least two more times before processing occurs.  Strict U.S. government standards ensure that milk is wholesome,safe, and nutritious. More information about dairy food safety  can be found at http://www.midwestdairy.com/ or http://www.dairyfarmingtoday.org/.

Once our milk leaves the farm for processing we have no say in how it is labeled. In my opinion, milk that is labeled "No Antibiotics" or "Antibiotic Free" is misleading because NO milk is sold with any antibiotic. Marketing is a great tool in any business and consumer choice is important but I think when labeling leads to increasing doubt about the safety of our food it is an injustice to the consumer and the farmer.  What do you think?